Small Business NAS setup?

Mike68 · 15-07-2008, 23:08

Hi,

I'm new to this forum but it looks like a place that I hope I can find an answer or advice in...

A friend has a Buffalo NAS in his office which files are synched to from three laptops at the end of the day. It's used primarily as a backup system.

Now he's looking to use it as a small network server so that the files will be used directly off the NAS rather than on the laptops themselves.

My question is Is this easy to do and what options do I have for backing up the data on the NAS? Can I plug a USB drive into it and back up to that?

What software would be needed?

Thanks guys..

Mike

DaiNasty · 16-07-2008, 06:35

Hi Mike and welcome.
To be certain of the NAS facilities it would be useful to have details such as model number. That makes it easier to research and offer suggestions.

Jon T · 16-07-2008, 07:54

Does the NAS share folders as SMB(Windows) shares, or put another way, can you browse to the files via Network Neighbourhood. If so, then it's just a case of putting the files on the NAS and accessing them as a standard Windows file share.

To be honest, my main concern would be to make sure that the network was up to the throughput, make sure your using switches not hubs, and try and keep the NAS at the centre of the network, i.e. plugged into the core switch.

Mike68 · 16-07-2008, 08:37

Cheers for the reply guys...

I just wanted a quick overview and thoughts of someone who'd done it before. I'm going down to my friend's office today and having a look. I will post more details here tonight. Please bear in mind I'm not a 'network' guy but this should be a pretty easy setup job for someone who does have decent IT knowledge.

Mike

DaiNasty · 16-07-2008, 10:44

Have a good look around the Buffalo machine. If it's got a USB port you should be able to connect a backup drive. It just remains then to figure out the best way to arrange a scheduled backup.

danielf · 16-07-2008, 10:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaiNasty

Have a good look around the Buffalo machine. If it's got a USB port you should be able to connect a backup drive. It just remains then to figure out the best way to arrange a scheduled backup.

Mine does (Buffalo Linkstation)

harmitage · 16-07-2008, 11:22

Slight word of warning. If things go belly up with your buffalo, they don't make any attempt to recover the data, even if it's under warranty!!! I had to buy a second buffalo and swap the hds (thereby invalidating the warranty on the new one immediately!) Apart from that the only other negative aspect I've came across is it is not happy with MS Access files. I did discover the reason why somewhere on the web but the explanation was a tad over my head (as many things are)

danielf · 16-07-2008, 11:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by harmitage

Slight word of warning. If things go belly up with your buffalo, they don't make any attempt to recover the data, even if it's under warranty!!! I had to buy a second buffalo and swap the hds (thereby invalidating the warranty on the new one immediately!) Apart from that the only other negative aspect I've came across is it is not happy with MS Access files. I did discover the reason why somewhere on the web but the explanation was a tad over my head (as many things are)

I was under the impression that swapping the hard drive on a buffalo does not invalidate the warranty?

harmitage · 16-07-2008, 12:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

I was under the impression that swapping the hard drive on a buffalo does not invalidate the warranty?

Their support staff informed there was a tamper seal on ALL Buffalo products. If this is broken, 2 year warranty is invalidated.

SMHarman · 16-07-2008, 16:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by harmitage

Their support staff informed there was a tamper seal on ALL Buffalo products. If this is broken, 2 year warranty is invalidated.

Well there is. To open them you normally have to stick a screwdriver through the serial number sticker to get to the screw underneath it.

My linkstation gets pulled apart ever 6 months or so now to oil the fan. Can't seem to find a replacement varispeed fan online.

Mike68 · 16-07-2008, 20:51

Right,

I've now been and had a look at my friend's small office network setup...

Please bear in mind that I'm not really up to speed on networking...

At the moment the printers, plotters and PCs are all connected to a 24 port RJ45 patch panel. Seven cables then connect from this to a TP-Link 8 port Ethernet switch. A red cable then connects from this switch to a DrayTek Vigor2800 router. A yellow cable links from this router to a Buffalo Gigabit LinkStation 500gb NAS. A phone line attaches to the router for ADSL broadband internet connection. An APC Back-UPS RS500 is attached by USB to the NAS.

Now these guys in the office are not very PC literate so they've been working in a quirky way. At the moment they work on local files on their PCs and at the end of a day sync these files to a central backup area on the NAS. In theory they are using their NAS just as a backup facility.

Now, I was talking to my friend and they wanted a more 'networked' office. They wanted to work off a server so that they were only working off one set of project files rather than the secretary having all the letters on her machine, the design guy having all the drawings on his etc... and have a backup facility too. So they got a quote in from a company, that put in their existing setup, for £6000 ($12000) for a new 'network' system!!!

Now, even I can see that their existing system is adequate for what they want to do. They can use their NAS as a server and keep all their projects files on it. It's all networked into the PCs. So I just suggested to them that they can spend £50 ($100) on an external USB drive and connect it to the NAS USB port and back up to it.

Now, I only have a couple of questions...

1) Having a quick look at my friend's system I couldn't work out how to add/setup folders on the NAS for sharing.

2) How will the PCs 'see' the USB drive?

At the moment, they use Microsoft's SyncToy to sync their PCs to the NAS. It looks quite adequate for their needs as you just set up a 'from' and 'to' folder and it Syncs files and folders between the two. I presume this can be used to Sync between the NAS and the USB drive.

Thanks again,

Mike

popper · 16-07-2008, 21:42

"£6000 ($12000) for a new 'network' system!!!"
or free with an old machine, some large 300Gig+ HDs installed in it, and a copy of FreeNAS to download,burn ,and boot straight off a liveCD ,or install on your HDs, and even a USB2 stick in that machine(s)....hmmm

sure that Buffalo Gigabit LinkStation 500gb NAS will work for them as it is, it seems, but FreeNAS gives you way more options and its all free if you happen to have the spare old hardware around anyway, or a lot cheaper if want to make a new one for a few £100 plus new 300/700Gig HDs to fill it with....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeNAS

"...
"Welcome to FreeNAS FreeNAS is a free NAS (Network-Attached Storage) server, supporting: CIFS (samba), FTP, NFS, AFP, RSYNC, iSCSI protocols, S.M.A.R.T., local user authentication, Software RAID (0,1,5) with a Full WEB configuration interface. FreeNAS takes less than 32MB once installed on Compact Flash, hard drive or USB key.

The minimal FreeBSD distribution, Web interface, PHP scripts and documentation are based on M0n0wall. "
"

FreeNAS's ISCSI is fun to play with, it makes that NAS installed HD look like it is really attached to your PC locally and it IS by far the fastest way to use that Ethernet cable over cheap 1gigbit routers/Switch....

to use remote ISCSI drives locally on windows, to use for instance that freeNAS option your going to need
the Free MS iSCSI initiator driver installed on your windows machines BTW...
#2

see http://www.freenaskb.info/kb/ for more information, if you want to try learning that with some old kit you might have laying around before telling these office guys about it perhaps.

SMHarman · 16-07-2008, 21:48

The Linkstation would be a good external backup to such a device.

popper · 16-07-2008, 21:53

for backing up the main freeNAS machine you mean, yes, good point.

freeNAS beta 0.7 even has a seperate basic web server you can just activate, set a port and directory for, and away you go....populate it with your HTML files etc.

Mike68 · 16-07-2008, 22:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMHarman

The Linkstation would be a good external backup to such a device.

Quote:

Originally Posted by popper

for backing up the main freeNAS machine you mean, yes, good point.

freeNAS beta 0.7 even has a seperate basic web server you can just activate, set a port and directory for, and away you go....populate it with your HTML files etc.

Guys,

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions. To be honest I'd never heard of a NAS until the weekend...

Building a FreeNAS machine looks like a good idea for future projects, I just need some advice on the setup now... Can I add a USB drive to the Buffalo for backup? How does the user 'see' it? Are there any sites that can show me what to do?

Thanks..

Mike